Industry Cautious on NSW Rezoning Changes

The NSW government’s new method for rezoning assessments show its serious about the housing crisis, but the devil will be in the detail, industry experts say.

The government this week announced a new pathway for rezoning assessments, taking decision-making power from councils and unlocking swathes of land in Western Sydney.

The Rezoning Pathways Program has been launched to deliver “strategically important” rezonings and large projects will be assessed by the Department of Planning rather than councils. 

At the same time and as part of the program, the state government announced 10 land rezonings in “the fastest growing areas”, the majority in Western Sydney, to allow the building of a potential 70,000 homes. 

The $73.5-million Rezoning Pathways Program is part of the government’s $2.8-billion Housing Package. Under the program, there are two pathways for planning proposals, state-led and state-assessed. 

The department will identify sites for state-led rezoning, and is piloting processes for industry stakeholders to nominate rezoning proposals, if they can deliver more than 1000 homes in metropolitan NSW or at least 300 homes in regional areas. 

As a result of the program, the NSW government will lead the work to unlock land in:

• Broadmeadow, Newcastle

• Camellia-Rosehill

• Explorer Street, Eveleigh

• Macquarie Park Stage 1

• Orchard Hills

• Parramatta North’s University and Northern sites

• Riverstone East Stage 3.

The NSW government will also be responsible for assessing planning proposals that could pave the way for new housing in Appin, Gilead and North Appin.

▲ The NSW government is unlocking 10 zones with its Rezoning Pathways Program.

The move was largely welcomed by the industry, although there were some misgivings.

Adrian Miller, director and head of planning, advisory and marketing at Craig & Rhodes, said that on balance it was a positive move by the State Government.

“There is a lot of merit in the State Government leading the rezoning or assessing large rezoning proposals from industry.

"It has the ability to engage and co-ordinate with the utilities and other State agencies and departments which are required to service these developments, whereas councils struggle in that space,” he told The Urban Developer.

However, there are some concerns about the plans. 

“The Department of Planning must be adequately resourced and meet targeted delivery timeframes, and there has to be a greater effort, particularly from Transport for NSW and Sydney Water, to deliver the required infrastructure in a timely manner so that housing is brought to the market in an orderly way.

“Local Councils and the community must still be consulted, but not beholden to them. There needs to be a coordinated approach,” Miller explained.

Urban Taskforce chief executive Tom Forrest said that the change had been dripping out from the Department of Planning during the past few weeks. 

Forrest said it was a “clear sign” that the government had accepted that there was a housing crisis.

However, Urban Taskforce did criticism the length of time it had taken for DPE to develop and publish the eligibility criteria.

The group highlighted that access to this pathway is not automatic and would be assessed by the significance of its public benefit, alignment to state policies and land-use strategies, whether it provided social and affordable housing and the infrastructure available to support the development. 

“DPE staff seem to struggle with the idea that the provision of all types of housing contributes to public benefit by adding to much needed housing supply,” Forrest said. 

“But this concern notwithstanding, this is a giant step forward for the NSW Planning System and is a much belated recognition that the plan to hand everything back to Councils adopted just prior to the last State election in 2019 has been a disastrous failure that has delivered the current planning crisis.” 

Applications to join this pathway for assessment will close on January 22, 2023 and the proposals should be lodged within 2 months of that date to be assessed by DPE.